MONGOLIA’S POSITION ON THE SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION

After a two-year admission process, this month India and Pakistan joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as full members during the 2017 Council of the Heads of State Summit of the SCO held in Kazakhstan. Now the SCO’s eight full members account for nearly half of the world’s population and a quarter of the world’s GDP, covering three-fifths of the Eurasian continent.

The Polish-American political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski, who served as U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor, said, “Eurasia is home to most of the world’s politically assertive and dynamic states. All the historical pretenders to global power originated in Eurasia. The world’s most populous aspirants to regional hegemony, China and India, are in Eurasia, as are all the potential political or economic challengers to American primacy.”

Iran is interested in joining the SCO as a full member to strengthen its relations with SCO member states. When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the President of Iran, his country was an observer state and applied for full membership. Although Russia and China support Iran’s admission as a member state, the appeal has not moved forward due to United Nations sanctions against Iran.

India and Pakistan pursued SCO full membership to allow the two countries to play a significant role with SCO member states in regional trade, peace, security, and stability.

India is concentrating on developing its cooperation with China, Russia, and Central Asian republics with rich mineral resources, especially gas and oil. India also has an interest in dealing with counterter- rorism by collaborating with SCO member countries.

Pakistan has focused on developing its relations and cooperation with China in recent years, and has also launched a transit trade agreement with some Central Asian countries, such as Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. For Pakistan, becoming a full member of the SCO will be great importance to increasing collaboration between Pakistan, China, and Central Asian republics to fight terrorists.

Some full member countries of the SCO want Mongolia to become a full member as well, but Mongolia is not as interested as India, Pakistan, and Iran are in getting help to develop its economic growth and military capacity.

Russia and China are ready to help Mongolia become a full member of the SCO, but President Ts.Elbegdorj once said that being an observer state is enough for Mongolia, and many political analysts agree with the Mongolian position on membership status.

Since becoming the first SCO observer state in 2004, Mongolia has been actively participating in the leadership summits and other events organized by the SCO.

If Mongolia became a full member, we would need to spend much more money participating in all the activities of the SCO, organizing at least two major summits in Ulaanbaatar within eight years. We would also need to spend much more money on establishing specific groups, a state department, and other bodies that would be connected to SCO engagement.

However, some say that following India and Pakistan entering the SCO, the organization’s economic cooperation has expanded. All the countries surrounding Mongolia have already become permanent SCO members, so Mongolia needs to present a request for full membership soon, as official ap- proval of the bid could take a long time.

If we want to become a permanent SCO member, the review process would not take two or three years, like it did for Inida and Pakistan, because Mongolia is not a big country. Mongolia has no border disputes with China and Russia, or conflicts with any SCO member countries.

Becoming a permanent SCO member state soon is not a priority for Mongolia. Implementing the economic corridor program, participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, establishing a free-trade agreement between the European Economic Community and Mongolia, building a petroleum processing factory with Indian financing, and implementing other important projects by maintaining long-term friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia, China, and India are the most urgent responsibilities of the Government of Mongolia.